


Dollie

by MoomooBare



Series: Heaven's Gate [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Dolls, F/F, Heaven & Hell, Horror, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Monsters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-06-07 17:31:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15224213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoomooBare/pseuds/MoomooBare
Summary: Beach City once a place filled with tourists, and prosperity. Now became a place of death and bitterness. New Missing person posters aligned the streets daily as a string of mysterious murders causes a new curfew. Fear of getting a poster of her own causes Cerise to hide away in the depths of her room. Until a beautiful girl named Rose Quartz comes into her life and changes things forever.Now, Cerise must fight the evil that haunts Beach City with the help of new friends, but will they be able to defeat it?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a remake of a old work named "Our Lives That June." The old story became too messy and random so I decided to remake it. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks so much for giving this story a chance!
> 
> I would personally like to thank my two best friends @Master_of_the_Boot1 and Jade for helping me so much with this story. They stuck with me through the grit and grim and supported me all the way through. This story wouldn't be what it is without them.

**_CHAPTER 1: INTO THE WOODS WE GO.._ ~~~~  
  
**  
  
**Disclaimer:** **This work contains Violence and graphic material. Read at your own risk.**  
  
  
  
  
Summer's hot, humid air swept Dolli's bangs out of her face in a calm breeze. The night was especially serene, and the moon shone brightly in the sky as stars twinkled. The suffocating breeze caused the forest to sway in a trance-like way with a hushed rustle. Trees towered over her like giants, and winter's plague now crunched under her feet. It was a new season, a new time of year, and the perfect to seek change. But as fresh tears stung scraped cheeks; she knew a change was something of fantasy. Dolli was stuck here, Whether she liked it or not.

  
Through cloudy, tearful eyes she examined her purple, broken finger. It throbbed and its ugliness made her sob. She cursed her father out loud with boiling rage.  
  


She hated that man more than anything and promised sure revenge for everything he had done to her. She'd send fire to that man's life and give beatings ten times worse. Then he'd be mourning a broken finger while she laughed, and laughed, and laughed. She'd laugh so hard she couldn't breathe! Then she'd kick him out, or in her sister, Pearl's words, _'Give him the boot!'_ \- - Just like he had because Daddy gave her the boot, and her sisters did nothing about it!  
  


A tremble played at her bottom lip. They didn't try to help her, nor shove him off when he hurl Doli into the ground, and kicked her relentlessly. All they did was watch and scream! Now, look at her, all busted and blue!  
  


Dolli wiped her eyes and rubbed her throbbing bottom lip. She ceased her tears and recollected herself. Sobs still racked her frame, but atleast she wasn't crying anymore. Wiping the snot from her nose, she glanced at her watch and widen her eyes at the time.

_11:11_   
  


_'make a wish.'_ She thought sarcastically. A grimaced played with her features.

She closed her bruised eyes. What should she wish for? Happiness, freedom, change..?

A broken smile played with her lips from the last want; she had wished for that. A simple, beautiful change that would affect everyone in her life.--Including herself.

Dolli opened her eyes with helpless happiness and checked her watch once again.

  
_11:13_

  
She sent a small prayer to heaven that she'd wished right on time.

  
Staring at her broken finger one last time, Doli decides she should head home, it was late.  
  


Hopping up from the earthy ground she dusted her rump off and stretched out with a high-pitched whine. Her bottom was sore from sitting down, and her legs had fallen fast asleep; they tingled and stung.

She hissed as she awkwardly limped throughout the forest. Now that she wasn't crying,the calmness of the terrain spooked her. It felt like the world had grown dead, while she was the sole functioning thing.

  
A twinge of anxiety entered her as she noticed how looming the trees felt. They were like ghostly shadows to her, and each bark held a tormented face. The holes in the wood served as eyes and mouths while the swirls were treated as wrinkles of dismay.

  
Dolli gulped as she felt vulnerable and bare. Each tree stared her down and made her feel wary. A cold shiver dried her mouth as goosebumps aligned her skin.

_'I'm alright it's just my imagination. My head is playing games with me... Plus l'm scared and hurt...So average things will feel scary, right?'_ She thought as she limped faster through the woods.

  
_'Just your imagination.'_

  
From then Dolli tried focusing on how fast she moved, and the noise her shoes made against dead grass. She ignored the area around her and tried staying focus on the ground beneath her.

  
Unknown to Dolli the little girl with curly hair snickered at her through the thickness of the trees. Her newfound prey will be a easy kill. She'd simply play the wolf in sheep's clothing. Then she'd feast.

  
A cry resonated throughout the woods that made Dolli's head snap up. Her heart skipped a beat and simultaneously sped up. The same cold shiver trembled her form, but now it was much worse. Her voice came out in a small squeak as the sudden need to urinate came.

_"Hello..?"_

  
She watched as a small girl crawled from the trees. Her movements looked rough and uncanny.- - Her skin too pale to be human, and something about her pegged Doli as familiar. The girl looked her in the eyes, and light bulbs lit up in Doli's head.

"Hey! You're the mayor's daughter, Cerise, right?"  
  


The girl smiled through blood stained teeth and nodded her head. Dolli felt her heart lurch up at the sight of those teeth.  
  


"Can you help me..? I have a bad boo-boo." Cerise said as she removed her hand from her stomach exposing a wound. She smiled again allowing her blood-stained teeth to glisten in the moon's light. "I'd really appreciate it!"  
  


Dolli slowly crept towards Cerise. She dropped down to the girl's level and examined her wound, wincing as she did so. "How did this happen to you?"  
  


Cerise flinched then spoke, "some bad doggy did this to me! It hurts really bad.."  
  


Dolli widens her eyes. "W-what... A dog did this to you?"  
  


Cerise nodded as she pouted.  
  


Dolli bit her lip and scooped Cerise up in her arms. She brushed her fingertips against the blood-soaked jean of the overalls. Cerise winced and squirmed underneath her.

"I have to take off your overalls and shirt to look at it. Is that okay?"  
  


Cerise nodded again as tears brimmed her eyes.  
  


Dolli unbuckled the overall's hooks and pulled down the clothing until it reached Cerise's crotch. Her brows twitched as Dolli pulled up her shirt. Dolli let out a loud gasp as blood messily leaked from the wound. The injury itself resembled something of bear's claws.--Nothing that your everyday dog could do, and the mere depth of the wounds amazed Dolli.

How was this girl not dead yet?  
  


"Does it look bad?" Cerise asked as her bottom lip trembled.  
  


Dolli was so awestruck she didn't hear Cerise's question. Dolli nodded her head and took out her phone.  
  


"Wait, what are you doing?"  
  


"I'm calling an ambulance, you need a doctor, pronto."  
  


"A doctor? Can't you fix it?"  
  


Dolli stared at Cerise in disbelief. Was this kid serious?

"I can't fix this, just look at the wound yourself! You're going to need stitches, and not only that.--Shots too and medience..I'm not a doctor... I wouldn't know where to begin on fixing your wounds!" Dolli said, flabbergasted.

Cerise grabbed onto her wrist, and Dolli's heart leaped. Black claws from Cerise's hand pierced into Dolli's wrist causing her to shriek. Dolli put her hand on top of Cerise's and tried yanking it off to no avail.

Cerise stared bullets into Dolli as her voice rumbled in a deranged tone, "can you help me?"

  
A choked breath escaped her lips, as she yanked her hand again. She couldn't breathe, and breathy stammers left her mouth. Cerise just smiled innocently as she punctured into Dolli's radial artery. Dolli screamed on the top of her lungs as blood oozed around Cerise's claws. Their eyes met again; Dolli's glaze in fear and pain while Cerise's clouded with innocence and bloodshed.

"I c-can't help you!" Dolli finally shrieked as she whipped her hand away. She shoved Cerise off of her and crawled backward. Her damaged hand shook wildly while her bladder dared to release.

Cerise pouted and furrowed her brows. Her voice deepened as her shrieks sliced through the forest's silence like a dagger.."Why not?! My mommy will beat me if I go home like this!! She'll break my finger! She'll break my finger like your daddy did yours!" She bellowed, stomping her feet. "You're a meanie, a meanie for not helping me!! Everyone is a big fat meanie!! My mommy is, my big sisters are meanies, and now I'm going to show you what happens to meanies like you.."

Dolli watched in horror as the little girl's shoulders broadened. They stretched the white tee to its breaking point and made it rip like cheap paper. Cerise's skin turned an oily black as bones aligned her body like thorns. The face of a once cute little girl was now hidden in a hideous snout and blunt tusks.

But something told Dolli this wasn't Cerise, it couldn't have been.

Though they were both strangers to each other, Cerise was a public figure--the mayor's daughter. The most sympathetic Diamond out of the four. The little girl who helped the homeless and never showed an ounce of hate to anyone.The little girl who skipped merrily around town while giving shy waves and 'hellos!'.

And now that same little girl was doing this. She couldn't believe it, this couldn't be her. She knew deep down in her heart this monster wasn't Cerise Diamond. This was an imposter, that sought to devour her.

Then her sister, Pearl's voice rang in her head, "The Diamonds are a bunch of psychopaths. They play human, knowing the whole town is watching them. All we are, are just puppets in their little game of fortune. They use Beach City as their stage and only seek encores among us dull citizens. That's why I advise you to avoid them. Do you understand, Dolli? They're nothing but monsters in human flesh."

  
A warm trickle ran down Dolli's leg making her look down. Her cheeks flushed as she realizes she'd wet herself. She helplessly started crying as she froze in place. She became a statue to the cool earth as her doe eyes bulged. To an outsider, she resembled a deer meeting the end of a 336C for the first time.

Cerise's long tongue lolled out of her deformed mouth. She blended in with the night's darkness, but the moon highlighted her presence. She now loomed over Dolli like the trees around them, and beast was an understatement for her new form.

Dolli didn't know what made her break into a sprint. Maybe it was how close Cerise had gotten, perhaps it was the warmth of her own piss, or maybe it was the reality that the once little girl was now a creature of nightmares. Either or she ran with the speed and stamina of a track star. The wind brushed her hair, while leaves and twigs snapped underneath her. Adrenaline coursed through her system like a drug. The distance she covered would have been impossible for her normally, but the thought of those blood-stained teeth chowing down on her kept her running.

She was determined to get out of this alive.

Behind her Cerise howled deeply as she chased after Dolli. Her stomps against the grassy terrain caused the ground below to quake. She wouldn't let her prey go away, or rather its prey away.

Dolli went into a loud coughing fit as her sides screamed for her to stop. She had been running for what seemed like ages. Her tongue felt like a limp organ in her mouth, while her lungs roared with fire. Sweat rolled down her cheeks, and her shirt clung stubbornly to her sweat glazed breast. Her choked breathing was loud amidst the silence of the night. Sweat stung her eyes while putting saltiness in the corners of her mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut as she sprinted blindly through the soundless woods. Dolli's heart raced faster, her legs pumping heavier, yet the distance closed grew shorter.

Blood squirted rapidly out of Dolli's wrist and exhaustion pounced on her like a lion. Her vision doubled and blurred, making everything around her feel dreamy. The rumbles from the ground sounded distant but made her legs buckle.

She fell like a sack of bricks as her eyes grew heavy. She was barely aware of the blood leaking from her wrist. Though, she could feel the warmth of blood touch her cheek. With blurred vision, she saw a halo of blood around her hand. She let out a choked breath as she clawed the grass. She moved hardly an inch and felt the strain in her arms. Tears flowed down her face, she'd lost.

Frantic sobs erupted from her as she saw Cerise's shadow consume her in darkness. A hooved foot stomped on her back and Doli let out an ear-splitting scream. She clawed at the raw earth as a warm, humid breath trailed down her neck. She hitched her breathing when a rough tongue dragged itself across her jawline.

It was tasting her out.

Goosebumps erupted on her skin as she screamed out. The halo of blood grew bigger as she became less conscious. Her eyes dared to close as she squirmed underneath the hooved foot. A silent scream pierced her voice box as canine-like teeth sank into her neck. The world around her grew dark as she felt herself slip away. She gurgled while her cheeks grew a deathly white. Like a rabbit in the jaws of a wolf, she felt herself struggle then go limp as her final breath swept her away.

The monster feasted on Dolli's warm corpse. It gagged down each intestine as Dolli's fresh blood stained the corners' of its mouth. It slurped and sucked on the vulnerable body like a ravaged, starved animal. It popped a torn breast in its mouth like it was a piece of bubblegum and howled.

  
The halo of blood was now a puddle on the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guessing games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long hiatus, I've been demotivated, but I'm back on the grind!

The news of Dolli's death spread like wildfire throughout the small town of Beach City. Rumors were started by fellow housewives as the Police Department was pressured to release all the information concerning Dolli Rosenberg's death. Press conferences were more like civil rights protest from the flood of home-town journalist and people. Beach City's common folk were one of the most conservative, red-neck citizens who'd put a muzzle in their mouth and pull the trigger if the president asked them too. The American Constitution was their bible, and apparently, the police department was violating their first amendment and unalienable rights by withholding classified information on Dolli's case. Officer Garnet remembered when her tubby-Latina partner, Amethyst rolled her eyes at that one.

"Unalienable rights! I can't fucking believe it! I think this is the most self-entitled suburban town I've ever patrolled, G'." Amethyst laughed as she poured a sugar packet into her coffee. Garnet just shrugged as she took a sip of her black coffee.

"That's the first time I've ever heard that one, that's for sure."

They were parked near the outskirts of town looking for any suspicious behavior near the woods. A single call hadn't come in since the beginning of their shift and both of them had gone through ten, bottled iced coffees together. The State police were dealing with Dolli's case, not them, they were ticket maids and highway patrol now. Amethyst knew they shouldn't be parked out here, but Garnet insisted they should. She was an ex-city cop and just as capable as the State police to crack down whoever killed Dolli Rosenberg. Homicides were her 'finesse' just as much as custody disputes were Amethyst's. She knew her partner was itching to work on this case because it was thrilling compared to their usual run of the mill small-town crimes such as shoplifting or running a red light. But God did this case really keep her up at night. It always made sweat bead down her forehead when she tried reliving what Dolli went through. You had to be all kinds of fucked in the head to do something like that to a teenage girl.

Amethyst remembered whenever they got a call on dispatch for a body discovered in The Woods. They were ordering burgers from the newly built McDonalds as Amethyst re-told her one Nightstand story from the night before. She remembered coke squirting out of Garnet's nose as her face turned an almost raspberry color against her ebony skin. She'd gotten to the part of the story where she found out the girl was seventeen and Garnet lost it.

"She was seventeen?!"

"Mhm, and I was not about to catch a case."

"But you guys were already mid-way! What did she do, what did she say?"

"See, I haven't gotten to that part yet, G. And you pretty chug down that soda water before I do or you'll be raining coke out of your nose."   
  
Garnet did, taking two big gulps of her soda. She tried her best containing her laughter as she drank, not wanting to cover the dashboard in Coca-Cola. 

"You good? You're kind of red."   
  
Garnet nodded her head and waved a hand at Amethyst.

"Continue, continue!"

"Ahem, all right, G.”

“So I instantly pull away from her right? Then she starts asking me what’s wrong like I wanted to shake her and ask if she was stupid! So, I explained to her how she was a minor and we couldn’t you know!”

Garnet laughed, “Yeah, yeah I know what you mean.”

“Then she slapped me and called me a pig and how she was going to talk to the chief about me. I laughed in her face and that was a bad idea. And you wanna know what she did?”

“What did she do?” Garnet asked, completely invested.

“She spat in my face!”

Garnet’s reaction was cut off by dispatch. Amethyst stomach churned as she remembered her original reaction to the call. She remembered being slightly pissed off that she couldn’t finish her stupid fucking story that was half-truth and lie. She was upset that she wouldn’t get to eat her freshly made Big Mac and was even more upset at how seriously Garnet took the call. At the time she was sure it was some stupid kids trying to stir up the pot called The Missing Dolli Case. They wanted to add habanero peppers in the already steaming mess just so they could get their laugh of the day. Kids were fucked up that way. But Garnet put metal to the pedal as they drove off from the McDonald’s drive-thru. She cussed out Garnet that day as she ran every red light and stop sign. But Garnet had something special about her Amethyst found. She had real good gut feelings. If something was off, Garnet was quick to trust her gut and investigate it. That’s what made her such a good city cop. Most people didn’t trust their gut feeling but Garnet did. And just like always Garnet was right; her gut feeling was right. The scene was horrid, and the body unidentifiable at first.  Amethyst hurled into a nearby pile of leaves as Garnet inspected the body with blue, rubber gloves. The smell was awful, and that large cup of Big Red came straight up. It smelled the way you expected a decaying corpse too; pungent, foul, rotten, revolting. It was all there steaming out of the body. Garnet checked the dead body's torn pant pockets and found a school ID. It was clipped on to a Salior Moon themed lanyard and Garnet's heart only broke more.   
  
It read:  _Dolli Rosenberg, Grade 10. Beach City High school._

“Get a hold of yourself, Amethyst,” Garnet said, her voice weak. “Go call for back-up. Tell them we found Dolli and this Missing person’s case just turned into a homicide.”

Amethyst nodded already making her way to the cop car, but before she did she gave a quick glance at Dolli’s body. She was torn, completely torn up from head to toe. Her clothes were only stringy fabric around her mutilated body. The chunks of flesh hung onto her bones loosely, the arms ribbons of flesh. Her stomach and ribcage was displayed as her intestine lamely coiled on the ground, untouched. Her right eye rolled into the back of her head as her left dangled freely from its socket. Blood streaked her pale cheeks and her face was forever locked in the expression of terror. Lifeless terror. Amethyst gagged up colorless bile as she made her way to the cop car.   
  
Now they were here spying on the woods like a bunch of idiots waiting for a cute girl to come by.

“Garnet, we should go, this isn’t our call. We could get in big trouble by the chief if she catches us up here.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, I do! Garnet this is stupid let’s go! The state police can do this, not us.”

“Fuck the state police! They aren’t doing shit for this case! Two more people, two more goddamn kids died like Dolli already, Amethyst! Two! Two we could have saved if we didn’t rely on the goddamn state police! They're already stretched thin! This is our home Amethyst, our turf! Jesus Christ, we could have saved Dolli if we didn’t think she was a runaway and took the case seriously. Amethyst has it ever dawned on you that maybe Dolli was coming home and got abducted along the way? That some sicko took her into the woods and murdered her brutally for the fun of it? Have you?”

Amethyst bit her lip as she stared at Garnet’s sweat glazed face. “Dude, I know you’re upset at this. So am I. This shit is crazy. Nothing like this should be happening in a small town. I mean everyone knows each other!”

“Exactly, Amethyst. So, whoever did it must have known Dolli personally or at least had to be someone Dolli knew of. Someone she trusted to a certain extent to be bribed into the woods with them. I looked into Dolli Rosenberg. I pulled some of her friend’s into questioning these past two weeks. Apparently, she had a bad break-up with her boyfriend three weeks prior to her being registered as missing. The body had to be out there for at least a month, maybe less according to the autopsy. This could be one of those break-ups gone wrong scenario where the boyfriend is nuts and obsessed over the girl,” Garnet said, “He probably killed her.”

Amethyst thought long and hard about it. “That doesn’t make much sense. Didn’t you say two other kids died the exact same way as Dolli?”

“Mhm.”

“So that rules that theory out unless the boyfriend is totally nuts and decided to go on a killing spree after chopping up his girlfriend. He finds out he likes watching people suffer and wants some more of it. But then again that’s very unlikely.”   
  
Garnet tapped a finger to her lips. She looked beyond the trees and her eyes met the mansion that was carefully built around them. It was Winnifred Diamante’s mansion, the only private property in town where you’d really get shot at for trespassing. She was notorious for violent mood swings and nobody dared disagreed with her.--Not even people on her city council. She had a long history of assault charges Winnie thought she could hide with cash bribes. She did in the public eye, but Garnet knew about them. Money could only buy you so much, especially if you were a wanton woman. 

“You know the Diamantes?”

Amethyst laughed, “Of course, who doesn’t? I mean Winnifred Diamante is literally the mayor of this shitty town.”

“Isn’t it sort of strange how they have a manor outside of town, close to the woods? How we hardly see them around town except for the youngest one what’s her name? Cassie, Claire?”

“Cerise, she mows my lawn for me and delivers my playboy magazines. Love that kid she’s an honest cutie. But what’s your point?”

“Well, what if maybe they’re involved.”  
  
Amethyst let out a laugh that obviously offended Garnet. 

“Garnet, you were on a roll with the boyfriend thing, but I don’t think the Diamantes would ever. That’s a bizarre allegation. You better watch your trap before Winnifred hears and tries to file a lawsuit for slander,” Amethyst said.

“I’m not trying to be funny, Amethyst! I’m being dead serious. Nobody would suspect them. Everybody thinks they’re perfect. They’re like the celebrities of this town. They’re rich and love to show it, but they’re also mysterious. They watch what they say and where they go and what they do. Do you know the three daughters are homeschooled? Doesn’t that seem the tiniest bit strange to you? What really is going on behind those closed curtains. Have you stopped and wondered that? They could be sick fucks for all we know.”

“Like the Addams Family?”

“Something like that, I suppose,” Garnet said as she grabbed another iced-coffee from the glove department and twisted it open. She took a long gulp and twisted it back closed. Black coffee made a mustache on her upper lip.

“I just have a bad gut feeling about them. They seem funky, way off from the rest of us.”

“Your gut feeling is never wrong, Garnet. You’re like psychic or some shit like that but the Diamantes? You’re right about them being mysterious, but they should be normal taking Cerise into recognition. She seems like an everyday kid. She’s weird and quirky the way most kids her age are. Doesn’t know how to dress right, says the weirdest stuff, but that’s just how kids are.” Amethyst said with a shrug.

“If, there’s the possibility of something going on then most likely the daughters aren’t involved. And if there is something going on with them, it’s probably drug dealing or something with the black market.”

“Or child abuse, child porn, that could be where Winnifred gets all her surplus of money from.” Garnet loosely suggested.

Amethyst paused, something about Cerise always pegged her the wrong way like she was hiding something. Last week she remembered seeing bruises up and down her arms as she handed Amethyst her mail. The jacket’s sleeve slid back a bit, and so many bruises lined her wrist Amethyst could hardly see her skin tone. She asked Cerise about it, making sure not to pry too hard for an answer. Cerise only shrugged and said she fell down while riding her bike. After that Amethyst didn’t see Cerise for two weeks. She came back to delivering her mail a few days ago.

“Yeah, that too. A few weeks ago I saw some bruises on Cerise’s arm. I asked her about it and she said she fell while playing. But she had to be falling down a shit ton of times in the most awkward positions for her arms to be lined up like that.” Amethyst said.

Garnet clutch onto the steering wheel and looked like she was about ready to break it in half. She gritted her teeth as her expression tightened for a moment. Her face then relaxed as she shook her head.

“Kids fall a lot.”

Amethyst was about to tell her otherwise when Garnet’s eyes narrowed on something. Amethyst wordlessly followed her gaze and saw a girl no more than thirteen walking limply into the woods. She had on a dirty dress with smears of dirt near the cut-off. She wore a beige, canvas backpack and was holding something loosely in one hand. She couldn’t make out her appearance, but she could tell she was dirty by her matted hair.

“What the hell,” Amethyst mumbled.

Garnet put the stick-shift to drive as she turned on the car’s sirens. The noise burst through the serene afternoon causing Amethyst to jump. The girl turned pale as she stared at the cop car for a moment. Birds flew from the trees as squirrels scampered up them in a hurry. The girl gripped onto the object in her hand with a firmer grasp. Amethyst then realized the object was a switchblade. She then broke off into a dash heading into the sea of trees without a moment of hesitation.

“You scared her away! Now our asses have to chase after her!” Amethyst yelled.

“Why would you do that?!”

“I thought she’d come over here if she heard the sirens! Don’t yell at me!”

“Good grief, C'mon! We could have a good piece of evidence on our hands or a runaway for all we know!” Amethyst unbuckled her seat belt and got out on the passenger’s side. Garnet killed the motor and followed her in tow. They both followed the girl. Garnet worried they’d just let a solid piece of evidence get away.

* * *

  
  
A stitch formed on Rose’s side as she ran through the jungle of trees. Branches slapped her face as leaves got stuck in her curly hair. Mud stuck onto her White All-Stars as her dress caught onto about everything in its way. She wasn’t built for running. She hated running since she’d been running for most of her life. Each state she ran fearing her mother was on her heels. She hoped if she ran away to a small town she wouldn’t have to run anymore. She would be free. Rose met some bad people who did dirty things to her on the road. They touched her and used her for money. But if she ran away to a small town there would be less bad people there she hoped. Rose could stumble upon a nice couple who would take her in, or maybe a shelter or home. She could go back to school and catch up on the five years she’d missed. But as the two female cops ran after her, she wasn’t so sure anymore. When she was walking through the blanket of over-grown grass, she didn’t even notice the cop car. She was more shocked than surprised when the siren started up. Her first instinct was to clutch onto her switchblade’s red handle. The next was to take off in a sprint and pray for the best.They screamed at her to stop and come talk to them. _‘Everything’s going to be all right!’_ The Latina one yelled through gasps, but Rose knew it wouldn’t be all right. She didn’t trust cops, her older sister, Kasper always told her not too. It was how you got caught running or put into the system. Kasper said you get put into Juvy or child-jail and that Mom would find them. She’d lock them in the cellar and that would be far worse than juvy. She’d whip them with the belts that had animal bones on them. Their mother would kill them if they got caught. That’s why Rose was alone now, but she wasn’t going to end up like Kasper. She was going to keep on running until she ran far away from her mother Until she was free.There was a clearing ahead and Rose could see a train with open box carts moving at a moderately fast pace. It let out a loud groan as its horn was pulled and Rose decided then she’d jump on it. There were more shouts from the officers but Rose paid no mind to them. She sprinted going as fast as her long, chubby legs could carry her. She swung off her backpack as she ran side by side with the train. It gave out another long, drawn-out groan as its mechanics whirled against the train tracks. Rose tossed her bag onto one of the boxcars, timing the toss poorly. It landed with a low thud near the edge of the car. More shouts from the Police officers. She looked back at them for a final time then jumped onto the boxcar. The jump was sloppy, and half her body dangled off. With all the upper-body strength she could muster Rose lifted herself up. She sprawled out on the box car next to her bag. Rose panted as she sat up her chest taking in great heaves of air. Her lungs burned like hell. She carelessly wiped off beads of sweat as she watched the two officers run. She wanted to laugh at them and did.  
  
"There won't be no charges pressed if you just get off the car, young lady!" The black one yelled over the train's horn.  
  
"Fuck you and fuck your friend too! You'll both send me to juvy and pepper spray me!" Rose yelled.  
  
"C'mon down kid! You're making this more harder than it needs to be!" The hispanic one gasped.  
  
"Yeah, yeah keep running after me, Piggy!"  
  
The Latina one shouted something about entitled teens and murder. Rose thought she was crazy, and almost expected her to jump on the boxcar with her, but that realm of possibility came to a halt as her car passed them. Rose smiled to herself. She was home free. Amethyst gasped loudly as she tried steading her breathing. The girl smiled at them and laughed as the train moved farther down the tracks.   
  
  
Garnet and Amethyst watched as she blew a raspberry before disappearing into the boxcar.

“She got away!” Amethyst shouted.

“C’mon! We can still get her if we follow the train yard. I can call dispatch and have someone go out there to stop the train,” Garnet said as she started racing back to the cop car.

Amethyst let out an exaggerated groan as she tried running. She wasn’t cut out for shit like this.  
  


Rose slept through the rest of the day. She laid in the far corner of the boxcar curled up in a fetal position. Her head rested on the beige backpack as she used an old pair of dirty clothes as a blanket. The sun was beginning to set painting a horizon line of deep purple and orange. The sun was a huge red beam down west as a cool breeze shook the plants of the countryside. The breeze made Rose shiver in deep sleep as a nightmare kept her imprisoned in slumber. Every day she got closer to Beach City the nightmares became worse. They were tame at first; the casual ghoul giving you a fright that made you jolt up from your sleep, panic-stricken, but then they started to get worse. She started having dreams, where she was trapped in this cave and bodies, hung all around her. Long, ropy strings of drool seeped out of their mouths as they stared at Rose with clouded eyes. Her heart raced in the dream and she remembered screaming a choking sobbing sound. The bodies were nailed against the cavern’s walls by the hands and feet. Their limbs were sloppily stitched together; it looked like a sick play-on of taxidermy that made Rose puke in her dream. Then she had dreams where it felt like the life was sucked out of her. She felt tired and weak as she crawled. She never knew who or what she was crawling to, but her mind told her to trust her body. It hurt to crawl and Rose screamed an empty noise as her stomach erupted in jaw-clenching pain. Everything spun as her vision grew hazy. She sensed a presence near her, a dark presence that only wanted blood. It wanted to cherish her blood, to bathe in it, and lick it off its long claws as it feasted on her body. It wanted her innocence because fear was driven by belief. Rose could believe in its presence, and that only made her tastier.The dream always ended the same with her vision becoming so misty seeing clearly was impossible. The presence’s darkness would burrow deep inside of her nesting until it would grow and eat Rose alive. It pretended to be a baby, forming a huge hump on her stomach. It took her heart and made her cold inside. It corrupted her mind until there was nothing but rotten muscle. It used her organs against her and killed every living cell in her body. This dream was always the worst because Rose could feel It all. It was a virus that used her as a host and continued to use her until there was nothing left.When she woke up from this dream it was usually in tears. She never jolted awake or gasped for air, but instead cried mourning her own death. She cried at how much the pain hurt and cried longing for the nightmares to stop.   
  
They never did though, and the nightmare she had on the boxcar was by far the worst.  
  
The sky was painted an angry red as bare trees danced with the strong wind. Black clouds formed bleeding blood. Rose stood in the middle of the storm was droplets of blood rolled down her cheeks. They stained her gray Led Zeppelin T-shirt and caused the world around her to reek of musty copper.

Everyone around her was dead. They laid along the cracked streets like sprawled out flesh. Most of them had been eaten alive, and their moans of pain seemed to echo about even after death. Blood filled the streets like water. Something hit Rose’s shoe, she looked down and screamed her voice adding on to the sound of misery. A baby’s body, no a fetus, had streamed all the way down from its mother’s open corpse. It was nowhere near its full-term. It kept on bobbing against Rose’s shoe. Rose watched in horror as something inside the fetus pried against it’s closed lips. A single centipede came out crawling from its lips to its soft skull. A scream started to rise in Rose’s chest as she bit back bile. More started to follow until the whole baby was covered in centipedes, then the maggots came out and feasted on its body in a hurry.

The whole fetus’s body shook as bugs shot from its mouth that eventually ate the body until it was nothing more than tiny bones. The bile came out covering the bones then the scream came in tow. The nest of centipedes and maggots crawled and squirmed around Rose’s feet, some even finding their way up her shoe. She let out moans as she kicked them off, backing away slowly. Her back hit something solid, and Rose instantly turned around. A choked gasp escaped her lips as she saw the body in front of her.

It was her own body hung up on a tree in a noose made of a pink bra. Except it was Rose’s adult-self that was hung up like a sadistic Christmas ornament. Her eyes were sunken in as they rolled behind her head, the blood vessels in them broken. Her face was a deep red tinted with a blood-shot purple, and her tongue lolled out freely as drool hung from it in thin strands. Rose let out choked moans as she backed away.  
  
 _"N-no, no no-"_  
  
  
 Her left foot planted itself on something squishy. She moved it and slowly turned around her skin erupting in goosebumps.

Tears freely rolled down her cheeks as the body of her dead sister sprawled out in front of her. Kasper looked so pale as whip marks and deep cuts aligned her nude body. Rose let out sobs as Kasper’s corpse started to move. She reached out for Rose with a decayed hand. She caught onto Rose’s leg and dragged her to the floor. Rose landed with a heavy thud and her teeth came roughly down on her tongue. She bit into the muscle causing her mouth to gush with blood. Kasper crawled on her. There was no resistance from Rose as her big sister bit into her jugular. She let out a breathless scream as Kasper tore into her throat. She only took her Big sister’s free hand, begging for her comfort as life slowly sucked itself out of her.   
  
The blood was still pouring from the clouds.

Rose let out a scream as she woke up from her nightmare. Her heart pounded against her chest thudding loudly in her ears. Sweat dripped down her face as her hands shook like she had Parkinson. Her hands found her face and she rubbed her eyes.  _'what's happening to me?'_  
  
She let out a shaky sigh as she laid back down.

Her face was a pale color as she tried to collect her thoughts, to form some sort of meaning to the dream. She found none. Why would she even dream of something like that?

Weren’t dreams just subconscious thoughts that toyed with your brain throughout the day?

She didn’t know anymore. She’d lost so much sleep that it felt like she was an injured mutt running from their master than a girl trying to seek a better life. She was constantly scared and paranoid of people and the things around her. Nothing was safe, and even the open countryside could hold a monster deep in its roots.

Rose stared at the box car’s rusted ceiling. She then burst into tears wanting to go back home. She wanted to go back in time where Mommy was happy and they plowed the fields of their Daddy’s farm and chewed on the Tree’s sap as the sunset made the sky orange.

She stared at the sky and sadness weighed her heart.

She wiped her tears, telling herself to toughen up, she was alone now. Mommy was gone with the wind, and Daddy had left them years ago saying he’d run down to the store for a pack or marbles. Instead, he took the pick-up and sped off with some skanky high school drop-out.

Rose’s life was filled with disappointment, but things were going to change. She wasn’t going to be disappointed anymore. She was going to be happy in this small town. She just knew it.

Rose didn’t sleep until the sun came down, but by then the train was stopped so Amethyst and Garnet could search for her in its compartments.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos or Review!


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